Management

Scholarships promote learning opportunities

Several scholarships for school bus industry conferences and student field trips are available through the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT).

NAPT Board President Dr. Linda Bluth and her partner, Betsy Eisman, have endowed an annual grant that enables NAPT members to help bring learning to life for students in their community and enhance classroom studies in their school program.

In 2009, Bluth and Eisman committed $500 a year for 10 years to cover the cost of transportation, entry fees, supplies and classroom resource materials so that teachers may continue using the experiential learning gained from math and science, language, social studies and arts-focused field trips. Two grants of $250 are awarded each year.

Peter Lawrence, director of transportation for the Fairport (N.Y.) Central School District, and his wife, Linda, have created a scholarship that will help four school bus driver trainers or front-line supervisors attend an industry training event this year.

The Lawrences have endowed one scholarship that will cover the registration fee of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation/CYR Foundation Conference in July and three scholarships that will cover the registration fee of the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s 2011 Annual Summit in October.

Also, Zonar Systems has donated 10 scholarships for attendance to the 2011 NAPT Annual Summit. Each scholarship will cover the cost of one conference registration.

A preliminary report finds that Glenn Chappell had hypertension, diabetes, and seizures, and in the past five years had been involved in at least 12 crashes or incidents while driving a school bus or personal vehicle.